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Monday 7 July 2014

Getting back on the wagon!

Hi friends!  I have been a slacker with blogging lately, but the last week of school really kicked my butt! Parent Teacher Interviews are exhausting, on top of that I was frantically updating IEP's and writing nominations for our Special Needs kiddos.

Well now I am on our Winter break and I have decided it is confession time.  Remember this post......ummm....yup, didn't happen.  I think I was being a bit ambitious and not only did I fall off the health and fitness wagon I skydived off.  My aim back then was to maintain my weight and create some healthy habits......didn't happen.  What did happen was I started this when I was on holidays and I had time and I was not stressed and clearly maintaining that kind of timetable was unrealistic.  My Support Teacher role is very demanding on many levels and by the end of the day I am exhausted and I then have to make sure I am putting in time with my family.

So we are now halfway through the year and I have PUT WEIGHT ON and I generally feel like cr*p. What happened I hear you ask.  I am the queen of finding excuses, my biggest excuse has always been that I don't have time, I just don't, please find me 15 minutes in my day and I will use it to get healthy.  Right there that is a big fat lie. I have really had to re-think how I look at my week, I do have time I just had to adjust my thinking.  My weekends used to be my sit on the couch days and just veg out.  I now look at my weekends as a way to wind down and then kickstart my week by exercising.

I decided to make 3 small changes in my week to help me get back on track.

1.  Use my weekends to get my exercise started.  
I bet like me you get to Saturday and you feel like a wrung out towel.  I have 2 main jobs that I HAVE to do on the weekends.  First is grocery shopping, the other is laundry.  Here is where I find time :)  I do not take my kids shopping, (sometimes my daughter will come with me but not both) Our supermarket is right near our local beach and walking track, so I make sure I am dressed for walking and then I do a 45 minute walk BEFORE I do the grocery shopping.  I am finding it is a great way for me to let go of the stress from the week and just breathe. I go early and then the supermarket isn't as busy.  I also do a 45 minute walk on Sunday mornings and this is my kick start, I also carry a couple of small hand weights to help stop the jiggly arms.  What about the rest of the week I hear you ask.  This is where I fell down at the beginning of the year, it really is hard to find time and motivation during the working week.  On Tuesdays I drop my daughter off to a 30 minute piano lesson, while she is making music, I walk. Right there I have found 3 times a week I can fit in exercise.  My "rest" days are now Thursday and Friday and I skip on Mondays and Wednesdays, easy to fit in 15 minutes of skipping in the hallway, I also plank every day.  Goodbye excuses!


2. Reduce my time with the bottle
I love nothing more than to relax at the end of the day with a glass of red, a good book or a TV show.  But, the calories I was putting in to my body have settled themselves on my butt and my muffin top.  I do not want to jiggle!  So here is the second change I am making, no more mid week wine, boo hoo.  I am replacing it with tea.  I allow myself Friday and Saturday drinkies and one week night if I really need it.




3. Increase my H2O
I am not great at making sure I am hydrated during the day and this is the other area I feel I can make a change.  This will help me to reduce feeling tired and sluggish and help me flush out any toxins.  I bought a water bottle that is easy to carry around and I make sure it is full in the morning and empty at the end of the day, it has also helped me decrease the amount of Diet Coke I drink.




So these are the 3 small changes I am making to bring on a healthier me, I *think* I will be able to sustain this but check back in a few weeks :)


7 comments:

  1. I will joint you, friend! We have missed you and glad you are on a break so we can have you blog again!

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    1. Thanks Mel! Time to get back into the things I love to do :)

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  2. Hi Tania,

    But... isn't wine fruit? ;) I'm with you on that one - I've had to weigh up (no pun intended!) whether the glass of wine to wind down at the end of the day was worth the extra weight I was (am?) carrying. I decided I needed to avoid it during the week, which makes a long bath with a glass of white so much more relaxing on a Friday evening!

    Lauren :)
    Love, Laughter and Learning in Prep!

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    1. Haha Lauren, yes I have tried to justify wine as fruit as well! Thanks for stopping by.

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  3. They sound like three great changes! I think I need to make a couple of changes too - you've inspired me!!

    Jemima
    Luck's Little Learners

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  4. Hey Tania,

    I love reading about how other people get motivated with living a healthier life...

    I must admit, I hate exercise with a passion....I think I'm allegic. I think this goes back to when I was a kid and trained almost everyday as I was a state walker (yep that funny walk ;-).

    Anyway I digress. I've actually lost 23kg in the last 12 months and thought you might be interested to hear how. I'm not a big believer in dieting as my experience has been that I always put the weight back on. But my Mum started doing the 5/2 diet.

    Basically this means that you fast for 2 days per week and eat normal for 5 days. So on a fasting day you can eat/drink what you like, as long as you consume less than 500 calories. You can split the days you do, but I did 2 days in a row. So that's what I've done to lose all my weight. Zero exercise.

    I've gone from being obese to normal. And they say that when you're at your target weight you can fast for just 1 day per week to help maintain weight. But I haven't been fasting for a few months now and haven't put on any weight. What I've found is that my meal size is so much smaller now.

    Anway that's my 2 cents worth...but well done. Oh and I have started exercising, I thought I'd start with walking one day a week. That's a big step for me ;-)

    Mel

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    1. Thanks Mel! I have heard about the fasting and I know a teacher at my school who does it, but I just know my willpower is not that great :) My food intake is not a huge issue for me, I eat pretty healthy and have good portion sizes. Having a son who is ADHD ensures that we eat mostly whole foods anyway. Thanks for taking the time and sharing with me.

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